Sarah Wasley

Granta’s Production and Design Director, Sarah Wasley, talks to us about knowing your own limitations, balancing caring with her career and shares her experience of adjusting her working conditions to fit around her life.

Sarah Wasley is the Production and Design Director at Granta Publications. She started her career at The Women’s Press in 1987 before moving to Quartet Books in the early 90s. One of her career highlights was working on The Luminaries, which won the Booker Prize in 2013.

‘I always feel quite energised discussing what I’m doing – I think that’s because I really do like it.’

What was your route into the publishing industry?

I come from a working-class background in Cornwall. I grew up reading and always wanted to work in books and I knew that I needed to be in London to do that, so I applied for a cultural studies course at a polytechnic there. I managed to get my first job as a receptionist and sales assistant at The Women’s Press, so I deferred my course for a year to see if that's what I wanted to do and I never left publishing. I don’t know if my route into the industry could happen now. The interns that we have here tell me that the more publishing experience you've got on your CV, the better. How on earth would you get into publishing now if you haven't gone to university or had previous experience?

I then moved on to another small publishing house called Quartet and there I did a bit of everything: I was an editorial assistant then a general assistant; I worked in rights, publicity and then I fell into production. I’ve never worked in a big publishing house; working in smaller companies gave me a really good insight into how the departments all fit together.

Initially it really bothered me that I didn’t have any formal qualifications, not because of my ability to do the job, but because of what it could mean culturally and socially. I actually came to Granta 22 years ago this month so the end of November is my Granta birthday!

You are a one-man-band in charge of both the production and design departments at Granta. Can you tell us about your role and the kind of things you do?

I line-manage our managing editor, who organises all the pre-press schedules and desk- editorial work, and then I look after everything production and design-wise. Between us we drive the critical path (the production, editorial and design schedule).

I love the hybridness of my role. I look after cover design as well as managing production schedules, so it's a perfect combination of processing how the books look. I think it's a brilliant mix and the design community is a lovely world to be part of. I don’t think many production departments, especially in larger houses, have a chance to work across both departments, so I feel very lucky. Even when I talk to someone about how their day has gone and we end up talking about our jobs, I always feel quite energised discussing what I’m doing – I think that’s because I really do like it.

‘Life on the outside has to be as nourishing and fulfilling as the jobs that we’re doing – because that’s why we’re working, isn’t it? To be able to have a life we enjoy.’

Being both design and production, who covers your work during annual leave? How do you find the process of separating from your work during periods of rest to fully recharge and switch off?

I hold my hands up – I find it so hard to switch off. I think you can only work in production if you're a bit of a control freak anyway and I probably do take it to the next level. I work a full working week across four days so I tend to start work in the early mornings before everyone else starts, but I do struggle to switch off for anything longer than a week. The sheer amount of catchup from emails is something I find really stressful, but I’m better at using my time off effectively because I have long weekends. 

I also find that I have to be strategic about when it is best to take time off and my managing editor knows they can call me if really necessary. Maintaining good relationships is also really important –- if there’s a breathtakingly urgent reprint, I know my sales director will be in touch with my printer rep and get it sorted.

But at the end of the day, it's only books, right? It’s OK to take some time out, and increasingly I’ve found that it's important in order to restore your headspace.

You are also a carer for the person you live with. Can you tell us a bit about how you manage your personal and professional responsibilities?

It's harrowing. On down days I feel like I’m spreading myself too thin and I’m not achieving in either aspect of my life very well.

Working at home and the pandemic has led to a profound change in how I manage my working week. I work two days at home and those are amazing because I can work as well as look out for him. It means he's not on his own and I'm not constantly juggling. He's not ill enough that we need professional help yet and we will get to that point but even now, it is hard.

If I don't think about it too much, I'm alright… Working in production, I'm used to compartmentalising and allotting time. I know that makes my life sound really dull but it isn't – it’s just a coping mechanism.

Once I got into caring, I really had to understand that I only have so much emotional bandwidth. Professionally, as a department of one, I have to be honest about what I can take on or what I need to function because I want to still have a life outside of work and time for a glass of wine now and again. It can't be a grind; it just can't be. Otherwise, what's the point? Good work–life balance is very, very important. Life on the outside has to be as nourishing and fulfilling as the jobs that we’re doing – because that’s why we’re working, isn’t it? To be able to have a life we enjoy.

‘There’s nothing wrong with asking for help and it is fundamentally a brave thing to do.’

Do you have any advice for someone who is a bit earlier in their career who is wanting to have those conversations about how to make their work fit around their life events – e.g. starting a family, physical health issues or prioritising mental wellbeing?

Firstly, I think it’s really brave to want to have those conversations. It’s alright for me to say because I have been doing it for 30 years and if I can’t hold my hand up by now, then there is something terribly wrong. It is a life lesson and it’s something you pick up along the way, that speaking out is being brave and it heads things off at the pass.

You’re not saying that you don’t want to do any of the work but that you want to find strategies to get through it. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help and it is fundamentally a brave thing to do.

We spend so much of our lives sweeping things under the carpet, and it has to be OK to talk about everything especially when it comes to things like mental health – you can’t sit and suffer in silence. It doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help anyone else. It is very important to take that first step to get help with coping strategies and say, ‘Look, I’m not saying I can’t or won’t do it, but I need to find new ways of working to help me do it.’ It’s not about shutting down, it’s about trying to open new doors and take steps forward rather than getting stuck. The sooner you can do that, the better, because if you put something off, it just gets harder and harder. I think if you don’t get the response you need or want, then that’s hugely disappointing but it’s about trying not to take it personally because it’s more likely a reflection on them.

And if you don’t get the answer you want, how do you pick yourself back up again?

Well, that’s kind of what life is about, isn’t it?

Life is about picking yourself up from the experiences you have, and making choices at those milestones to say, ‘Do I want to stay here? Is this what I want? Do I want to be in this environment?’ I know it's not always easy to choose and the job market is hard, but if you’re in that situation, you need to make sure that you have people around you that support you and that you make your life away from your managers and outside of your workplace as great and as supportive as it can be so some of that pressure is taken away. I think each time you come up against a situation like that, you develop a little bit of a thicker skin and that’s what these moments are.

‘Women have to feel comfortable talking about menopause and it needs to be on everyone’s lips all the time.’

Speaking of milestones, a conversation that has popped up recently in the Bookseller is around the support available for women working in the publishing industry who are going through the menopause. Shockingly, the article mentions that 25% of people working in the industry thought about leaving publishing because of menopausal symptoms. It is something that more than half of the publishing industry will face yet feels like a very new conversation, and publishers only seem to be putting menopause policies in place now. Do you feel like this is something you can talk about at work?

At Granta, between a group of women of a certain age (they won’t mind me saying that), we’re all talking about how to approach the menopause or what we are going through. There are open channels where we can talk about it because we know we’re going to benefit from these conversations. Granta has always been an incredibly supportive working environment, but I think that whatever industry we’re in, there has to be a greater conversation around it. Women have to feel comfortable talking about menopause and it needs to be on everyone’s lips all the time. Davina needs to put on a programme about it every week, doesn’t she? It is a hard thing to discuss and I think it’s a good thing that companies are putting policies in motion, but it shouldn’t just be something that happens on a person by person basis. It’s something that HR departments everywhere have got to take onboard.

The fact that people might be afraid to talk about it is terrifying because it really does affect the way you think – like the brain fog I get now. I find that I doubt myself a lot more on my efficiency and work and I do have to take a moment to check myself because I know it’s not me.

When it happens, the world gets turned upside down and nothing is as it was. It takes an extra chunk of energy to make sure that you’re alright and that everything is OK – so it is very crucial to be in a supportive environment.

How has the menopause has affected your work?

I just have to dig deep mentally a bit more and try and counsel myself that it’s alright. It’s OK if a mistake creeps in – I can still do my job! It is about changing your landscape with the way that you’re changing.

For me, I don’t have anyone to do that for me so I’ve got to do it myself. It is exhausting sometimes, especially with what can be going on at home but it is about knowing myself and not being too hard on myself for what’s happening.

There’s nothing you can do about it, but there are steps that you can take hopefully with your colleagues and the people around you and explain to them, ‘I might need to take a bit longer; this is happening; can I have a bit of space here?’ It is about negotiation, you’ve got to be able to negotiate with yourself and others around what’s happening. You can’t just sit on your own worrying and spiralling because then every other element of your work and your life gets affected.

‘It is important to have those support networks in place on a ground level, but it is also important that managers listen to their staff and tailor their needs within that space as well.’

What is one thing every publisher should be doing to help tackle the the stigma of having menopause whilst being at work?

You should be able to openly talk about it with your manager. I hesitate to use the word ‘illness’ but I don't know how else to describe it. Menopause needs to be treated as a very real thing affecting people in the way any condition might affect anyone else. It is important to have those support networks in place on a ground level, but it is also important that managers listen to their staff and tailor their needs within that space as well. We know full well that lots of managers walk around blinkered and don't necessarily know what their staff are talking about – and I just think that women need to feel comfortable talking about what's happening to them. It's going to happen to everyone, so they just need to be able to talk about it. full stop. It needs to be a proper HR policy. I know a lot of places are implementing things like that, and long may that continue going in the right direction

What are you reading at the moment?

I've nearly finished The Feast by Margaret Kennedy – it's about this hotel that falls off a cliff in Cornwall and how the tragedy comes about. The weird thing about it is, I've been reading it for weeks but COVID really screwed up my reading habit. I used to read on my commute and I just can't find time to read at home. Recently I've been buying books all the time, but never getting to them. If I'm not careful, I'm going to become one of those hoarders that they make documentaries about – I should operate a one-in-one-out policy.

And finally, can you tell us a bit about a woman in the creative industries who has been an inspiration to you and why?

It has to be Donna Payne (Creative Director at Apple, previously Faber & Faber). Donna is so amazing for spearheading campaigns, and has been a brilliant advocate for diversity and inclusivity. The latest thing she’s involved in – DPI (Design, Publishing & Inclusivity) – has really made me think about doing some mentoring at some point, but I’d want to make sure that I was able to fit it in! I try to do as much as possible, going into schools and universities when I can, but I do always need to bear that in mind.

Over the years, Donna has become a good friend. She is always someone I can turn to for advice and, especially as I’m a department of one without colleagues immediately in my vicinity, people like Donna and a lot of the designers I work with have become really important to me.